Preview: Committee on Human Relations

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The Committee on Human Relations will take up one new appointment and several reappointments to the City’s Commission on Human Relations, a 19-member body created in 2012 to enforce the city’s human rights and anti-discriminatory housing laws.

The only new appointment before the council committee is that of Julio Rodriguez, a director of program services for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The other four candidates are reappointments.

The committee will also take up a so-called “clean up” ordinance Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission on Human Relations that broadens protected statuses for job applicants to include gender identity, in addition to codifying other rules that bar the city from taking into consideration a job applicant’s criminal or financial history.

New provisions to the municipal code would also add a layer of protection for tenants who file a claim against their landlord. The change to the Fair Housing Regulations would bar a landlord from retaliating against and evicting a tenant who reports them to the city.

Another technical amendment expands the protections offered to active and retired members of the armed services. The current anti-discrimination provisions offered to military personnel are based on “military discharge status.” By striking “discharge” from the code, the protections would be broadened to include any branch of the armed services.